


Testimony

by jantotrash



Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: Children of Earth Fix-It, Episode: 2017 Xmas Twice Upon a Time, Grief/Mourning, Immortality, M/M, The Mire, look I fixed all the problems I had with Doctor Who and Torchwood in one go!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 00:47:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13376562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jantotrash/pseuds/jantotrash
Summary: Jack gets a surprise visit from someone he hasn't seen in years. That someone gives him two gifts he can never repay. One is a testimony of a life that ended too soon, and one is...





	Testimony

**Author's Note:**

> This is set near the end of the Christmas special Twice Upon a Time. This decision was made for two reasons:
> 
> 1\. I am annoyed that Peter Capaldi's doctor did not go back and help Jack, what with his face and how it should have been used. This should have included assistance in relation to the events of Children of Earth.
> 
> 2\. I don't know how to write Jodie Whittaker's doctor, as so far we have simply heard the words "Oh, brilliant!" come from her mouth. Although it is a brilliant line, it gives me absolutely nothing when it comes to her personality/speech patterns.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Jack was considerably busy feeling sorry for himself. He sat slumped in a chair, quietly sifting through memories. Every smile he found had what seemed like a thousand frowns associated with it. The activity was not having the expected results. Jack put his head down in his hands, wanting to push it all back down again.

He heard the unmistakable TARDIS sound, but dismissed it as his ears playing tricks on him. The Doctor wouldn't come back for him. Not now. It had been years since Jack had seen him, years since he had needed him more than he ever would again.

Some strange man stumbled into Jack's living room. He looked just like John Frobisher, reminding Jack further of the person he'd been thinking about and the incident he wished the Doctor had been there for. Everything else fell out of his mind as he stood there, shocked. It couldn’t be him, not now. If it wasn’t Frobisher, who was it?

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Jack asked, looking very much like he'd seen a ghost.

"You know me, Jack. I'm the Doctor." he said, standing up completely. "Don't tell me you don't remember."

"No, I remember, but Doctor! I thought you only had thirteen regenerations. And that face--"

"I'm regenerating, Jack. I don't have much time." he said, wincing as he spoke the words.

"But--" Jack started with an utterly confused look on his face. It certainly reflected how he felt: completely bewildered at exactly how the Doctor was standing right in front of him. And with that face. The last time he'd seen it was…

"Shut up and get in the TARDIS."

\--

"Doctor, I honestly do not understand. I'd appreciate a few seconds of enlightenment if you would!" Jack shouted after him as he jogged after the Doctor into the TARDIS. Somehow, he was walking quite fast.

"A thing happened, I got more regenerations, I'm dying, and I'm going to regenerate. Good enough for you?"

"God, you're grumpy." he said as he entered the space/time machine. He gazed at the scenery, which included many books and, for some reason, an electric guitar.

As he looked around, Jack commented: "Nice TARDIS though. Swanky."

"Swanky? Really?"

"Yeah, swanky! Honestly, look at this place. You're showing off." 

"Shut up."

Jack laughed and pulled a face as the Doctor pulled some levers. "So, where are we going?"

"A place."

"How'd you get that face?"

"A lottery."

He sighed. "No answers from you, huh? And no questions either. 'How have you been, Jack? How's it been, losing everyone you love? How's your seemingly eternal solitude?'" A pause fell between them, in which Jack wondered if he'd said too much. But the years of hearing absolutely nothing from the Doctor had weighed heavily on his mind. Plus, that whole thing with Ianto…

The Doctor was silent until the TARDIS shuddered to a stop. "Go on out." he said, gesturing to the door.

Jack obeyed, walking past him and out the doors.

"Welcome to the Chamber of the Dead." a disembodied voice rang out. 

"Is that like the House of the Dead? Because if so, I don't want anything to do with this--" A sudden burst of light came from Jack's left. A figure began to emerge from the hallway.

Jack immediately placed his hand on his gun, just in case. Years of being at Torchwood had taught him that alien figures emerging from hallways were usually hostile. He doubted that the Doctor would have brought him somewhere dangerous on purpose, but he never knew for sure. His peripheral vision informed him the Doctor had stepped out of the TARDIS as the figure got closer.

The shadowy silhouette looked familiar, but Jack couldn't quite put his finger on it. At least, not until it got closer. Not until it was suddenly standing right in front of him, in staggering detail.

It was Ianto. He looked just like he did millennia ago: perfect.

Jack wanted to run to him, cry for him, kiss him. But he simply couldn't move. He couldn't bring himself to do it. Was this death? Was this real? Was it safe?

The Doctor's voice, new and improved, came from behind him.

"It's okay. It's all of his memories, taken the moment before he died. The aliens are showing him on a created body. It's safe."

Jack moved his hand away from the gun.

"Ianto?"

"I can't tell if you've gotten smarter or dumber, Jack." he joked, certainly in Ianto's voice. Jack laughed; he couldn't help himself.

"Probably a bit of both."

Ianto offered his hand, but Jack hesitated. "Trust me. I am Ianto, at least my memories are. I swear on Torchwood, I swear on the SUV that you've crashed and I've lost, I swear on Myfanwy. Remember?"

Jack took his hand and blinked back tears. Somehow, it felt just like Ianto's hand. "I've missed you." he said, looking into his long-lost partner's eyes.

"I've missed you. Jack, I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"I died in that room. It's my fault you've been alone."

"It's my fault, everything's my fault. And how do you know I've been alone?"

"You still care about me. If you'd been with other people, you wouldn't--"

"No. Stop it. No matter what, I will always care about you."

Ianto looked down with a solemn look in his eyes. He still didn't believe it. Right then, Jack knew what to do. Or, at least his body did.

"Let me prove it to you." he said. Ianto looked up slightly.

With his other hand, Jack touched Ianto's cheek gently and guided their mouths together.

Their lips met and nothing else in the world mattered. Nothing except for right here, right now. Jack didn't want this to ever end.

It was perfection, exactly like it once was. Neither led the other. Instead, they worked in tandem, completing each other.

Jack knew it had to end, and it seemed Ianto did too. They separated but stayed in the embrace, looking into each other’s eyes like nothing had changed. Jack could feel Ianto’s warm hand on his back.

On one hand, Jack didn't want to speak. He just wanted to stay there. But he knew he had to. If this was the only chance he got to tell Ianto again, he needed to do it.

"Ianto," he started, "I love you." His heart sank into his stomach, nervously awaiting Ianto's answer.

After a short pause, Ianto kissed him again, but softer this time.

"I love you, Jack."

They both smiled at each other as Jack's heart soared.

"Jack." The Doctor's voice came from behind him again. It startled him a bit. He'd forgotten they weren't alone. "Time to go."

Jack's face fell instantly. "I don't want to. Leave me here forever."

"Come on."

"You owe it to me."

A silence fell for a moment, but the Doctor broke it.

"Come on."

The pair hugged, silently savoring how close they were. Just as he once did forever ago, Jack kissed Ianto. Ianto's hands rested on his hips just like before.

And, just like before, Jack was about to leave him. But this time, it might be forever.

"I love you." he said once more, searching Ianto's face.

"I love you too. Go." Ianto replied. Jack wrenched himself away from Ianto, like pulling a magnet away from its counterpart, and the Doctor pulled him into the TARDIS. The last thing he saw was Ianto's face, wearing a ghost of a smile.

Jack didn't seem to be able to move. His body was busy reliving those moments he'd just shared with the person he loved more deeply than anyone else. The Doctor was currently both piloting the TARDIS and muttering to himself.

The TARDIS stopped, but the Doctor neither exited nor forced Jack to exit. Instead, he was digging through drawers and boxes, searching for something.

"Jack." he said suddenly, walking to Jack, who hadn't moved from the door. The Doctor put something into Jack's hand. For some reason, it seemed he could move again.

"Put it on his forehead." he said. He said a couple other things too, very quickly, but Jack's mind was still recovering from being frozen. Despite Jack's lack of understanding, the Doctor pushed him out of the TARDIS into--

A funeral home?

At least, that's what it seemed to be. But it was dark, and considerably spooky. Quiet, too. Jack was alone with bodies, lucky people who had died. People he might never join.

Put it on whose forehead?

Jack wandered around a little, passing by women. The Doctor had definitely specified a he. Of course, he couldn't be sure of anyone's gender identity, but it had to be someone important that Jack knew was a he.

And suddenly, Jack saw him. His breathing stopped for a full thirty seconds until he forced himself to breathe again.

It was Ianto. But what would this thing do? A second chance?

Jack approached the cold body slowly. It felt like he was moving through molasses. The quiet suddenly seemed peaceful instead of scary. What right did he have to disturb the quiet tranquility of death?

He managed to maneuver his hand, still holding the rectangle, so that he could look at it. It looked a little like a patch, with a flat side and a bumpy side. Taking a bit of a chance, he placed the square onto Ianto's forehead, flat side down.

It seemed to dissolve into his skin. Jack watched with horror building deep in his stomach. What if he'd done something wrong? What was even supposed to happen--

Ianto took a shuddering breath and blinked his eyes open.

"Jack?" he croaked. Ianto cleared his throat and twisted his face into a disgusted expression. "Do you have any water?"

Jack smiled a large, yet apprehensive, smile. He kissed his lover softly and Ianto kissed him back. "Welcome back, darling. I'll find you some soon."

"I thought I was going to die." he said, moving his limbs around.

"I hate to break it to you, but you did."

"What? Are you dead too? Is this what being dead feels like?" Ianto asked, trying to sit up. Jack helped him.

"No, you're alive now. I honestly don't know what happened. The Doctor gave me this thing which, apparently, brought you back to life."

Ianto raised his eyebrows. "How did that work?"

"It was a Mire repair kit, modified for human use." the Doctor said from behind them. "There's only one minor problem with it."

Jack and Ianto looked at him with concern. Ianto opened his mouth and then closed it again, seeming to accept that somehow the Doctor had acquired John Frobisher's face.

"What kind of problem?" Jack asked.

"It does its job very well. Almost too well, some would say. It makes the user practically…well…immortal."

Ianto realized the gravity of the statement before Jack did. With a sudden movement, he came forward to kiss Jack deeply.

He couldn't believe it. He had someone to be with. Not just someone, not simply someone. He had just been given the person he loved, the person he'd been hung up over for years.

Jack kissed Ianto back.

It was better than the memory-Ianto, somehow. It felt similar, on a physical level. But the simple fact that Ianto was actually there, and would be there for as long as Jack lived, made it a thousand times better.

When their kiss concluded, Jack began to laugh out of sheer glee. Ianto chuckled a little as well.

"I love you." Jack said.

"I love you too, cariad." he replied with a smile.

"You know, that's one of the few Welsh words I remember."

"What else do you remember?"

"Ianto, coffi--"

"Neither of those count."

"Jack, I have to take you back." the Doctor cut in.

"That's alright." Jack said, still looking at Ianto. He helped the other man stand up, and the pair walked to the TARDIS, never to be separated again.


End file.
